Prevention from being more ish?

[Ellendra]

Then, when I FINALLY started to get my strength back, I got hit by some kind of brain problem, I get dizzy spells so bad that people think I've had a stroke, and they keep getting more and more frequent, up to 8 a day now, the doctors are stumped.

Ellendra I thought they'd discovered what it was, Lyme's Disease? Or was that not it after all? I'm really sorry to hear you are still suffering.

Thanks! They thought it was Lymes, now they're not so sure, and the treatments didn't help a bit.

[ellie12022]

Ellendra, how miserable to not be able to know what is happening to your own body. I chased doctors for ages trying to get a diagnosis for something, but I am still no further on. (I do have a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, and I had to move back with my parents for over 2 years, VERY stressful but necessary).

Sunflower gal, i hope your husband finds a job soon, there are jobs around still.

As for why I'm not more self-sufficient - money & health & circumstances sums it up, like everyone else! But I like what someone else wrote on a thread a while ago, how being self-sufficient can mean different things to different people. I think my priority at the moment has been learning to manage both my own & my (new) husband's money, and a priority for us is to reduce debts. I do make my own bread sometimes and have even attempted to make a cake in the breadmaker. We do make our own soups sometimes too. These are our small attempts to learn some skills.

[Big Al]

I am trying to be more ish, but gradually so each little change becomes normal and I am less likely to fall off the bandwagon.

Things that hold me back:

House: we are in a council house so dreams of solar panels on the roof, rainwater collection, installing a woodburner etc will never happen!
Me: I am 6 months pregnant and reluctant to do too much as I know things wont be maintained when baba arrives. Plus I cannot lift/dig as much as normal and this frustrates me!
Money: We are a single income family, and that income is low. Being a stay at home mum does help some ish things like cooking from scratch, maintaining the allotment etc but it means the dream of the little cottage in the country with land for all things ish is further away!

But I am determined to do as much as I can, and feel very inspired to do more!

When we were planing the babe we wanted one to be at home all the time and as my wife had the better employment prospects she dropped the bairn out and went back to work after 6 weeks. Walk forward the first househusband in the north east way back in 1989.

He's 19 now and a second year student at uni studying psychology so I didn't go that far wrong.....

[ellie12022]

Big Al, Do you realise that from the end of this year (I think it is) that you would have had to go to work when your child was 7? Does anyone else think this is appalling? There are some very strange things going on in the heads of the people who run our country.

[Annpan]

The new legislation only applies to people who live off of the state, not financially independent families. Mrs Big Al was working to support her family.
I find this a difficult topic as I do wish Mums would stay at home to be with their children, but it certainly also isn't fair that a huge chunk of my husbands wages go to pay people who can but don't provide for themselves.



Anyway... that is an aside....

I have a toddler, which makes most tasks pretty difficult, and most of my time is spent not doing the things I want. We are lucky enough to have the land that we want, but obviously we never have enough money.... but does anyone???

[ellie12022]

You're right Annpan, but this also applies to single parents like my sister who does her best with two children and has worked & studied since her divorce, but has needed help from the State to survive ( she has been in a long struggle to get the ex to pay any regular money). How she can be expected to work full-time is beyond me. It is not always a question of being able to support oneself without help, I'm sure my sis would much rather not be worrying about money all the time, and is happy to earn a living, but one person cannot be expected to do everything. And if the children got into trouble, who would get the blame? Part time work, maybe (as she does), but full time? It seems daft to me that individual circumstances are not taken into account. (off soap box now).

I am also very grateful for the state help I receive, (which I have earned by previously working).

Anyway, I wonder what small steps we can take to make ourselves self-sufficient? What aspirations do people have? What have people tried or want to try?

[Elizabeth]

The new legislation only applies to people who live off of the state, not financially independent families. Mrs Big Al was working to support her family.
I find this a difficult topic as I do wish Mums would stay at home to be with their children, but it certainly also isn't fair that a huge chunk of my husbands wages go to pay people who can but don't provide for themselves.

I'm with that aside! We've decided not to have children and we find it very frustrating that people (especially unmarried single mums) choose to have children but then can't afford to bring them up!

Anyway our biggest barrier to being ish is not being able to sell our cottage and buy a house with land! (with money we have earnt by ourselves!)

[yugogypsy]

With my partner and I its always money. Those almighty $$$$$ don't go
very far these days.

And Rick is working part time for our senior friends, plus he got a 3 day job with a landscaping
with a friend.

We are currently try to raise money for more chickens, materials to build a goat house and materials for our perimeter fence.

We also want to get fruit trees and berry bushes for the garden, but it all boils down to
money.

We've built a roadside stand and I hope to sell eggs, veg and crafts this summer.
Our tenant is helping with the building and cleaning up but not contributing any extra $$ right now. Maybe I'll raise his rent!

I hope everyone is well
Love and Hugs
Lois

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Lois!!!

I do wonder just how Ish everyone would be if we were all rich? Anyone else ever wonder this like I do? So much of the Ishness often comes from necessity I think rather than choice, although perhaps when our situations change we stick with the choices we made, to continue to live more Ish-like. But what would we do if we suddenly won the Lottery and money wasn't a problem?

[sleepyowl]

Space, money, motivation.

[Flo]

I do wonder just how Ish everyone would be if we were all rich?

Probably not very as we would have the money to buy whatever we wanted. Surely Ish is a state of mind and you do what you can with what you have. It's more of off shoot of made do and mend, recycle, replace and reuse.

[Rosendula]

I do wonder just how Ish everyone would be if we were all rich?

Probably not very as we would have the money to buy whatever we wanted....

Ah, but then I'd be incredibly bored. When we had two full-time wages coming in, we didn't have enough to buy land (very expensive here), but we bought whatever else we wanted - food from supermarkets, take-aways, meals in restaurants. I could have stuck with that by going back to my paid job after Katie was born, but I wanted to be Self-Sufficient in childcare and home-educate (another form of Ish in my opinion). In order to reduce costs I started home-baking, and things went on from there. I got an allotment, which is something I always wanted to do but didn't have the time when I was doing paid work, so more Ish again.

No, I really think if I won the lottery, I would continue to be Ish for the simple fact that it makes me happy, I'm much healthier, I know what's in my food, and I feel in touch with nature. I might employ someone to help me though, then I could get more done.

[Masco&Bongo]

I do wonder just how Ish everyone would be if we were all rich? Anyone else ever wonder this like I do? So much of the Ishness often comes from necessity I think rather than choice, although perhaps when our situations change we stick with the choices we made, to continue to live more Ish-like. But what would we do if we suddenly won the Lottery and money wasn't a problem?

Yep, I agree. I suspect if money wasn't an issue for us, we'd buy things like a wind turbine, PV panels etc; rather than a new car, foreign hols, plasma TV etc.

What holds us back? The fact we have to work full time mostly! I suppose that's a time and money issue really. If we didn't have to be a 2 income household, then that would be great. We'd get a lot more stuff done/planted and have more livestock and not have to cram everything in at weekends or not at all.

[barefootlinzi]

Ah, but then I'd be incredibly bored. When we had two full-time wages coming in, we didn't have enough to buy land (very expensive here), but we bought whatever else we wanted - food from supermarkets, take-aways, meals in restaurants. I could have stuck with that by going back to my paid job after Katie was born, but I wanted to be Self-Sufficient in childcare and home-educate (another form of Ish in my opinion). In order to reduce costs I started home-baking, and things went on from there. I got an allotment, which is something I always wanted to do but didn't have the time when I was doing paid work, so more Ish again.

No, I really think if I won the lottery, I would continue to be Ish for the simple fact that it makes me happy, I'm much healthier, I know what's in my food, and I feel in touch with nature. I might employ someone to help me though, then I could get more done.

This is a really good point and I really agree with it. Since I have been a SAHM we have been more ish - cooking from scratch, have an allotment, making and mending things etc....when i used to work fulltime we found more things to waste our money on. With the extra time I have being at home I can be much more ish even though we have much less money. But, I am also much happier living this way

I also plan to home educate (well, officially, I already regard myself as home educating our LO even if he is not yet at school age) and like the way you describe this as another form of ish. I want my children to have the skills they need for life, not the grades that are highly prized but in my experience not particularly useful!

[Millymollymandy]

I would certainly continue with my flower and veg gardening as it's a passion for me. Though it would be nice to get away for more holidays (and I don't mean exotic destinations by plane, just around Europe in the car) - though that brings me back to the same old problem of who'd look after all my plants and veg (and birds if I still had them)! I would be able to afford to pay for housesitters whenever I wanted but there's just too much to do (here at least) with all the watering/weedings/mowing etc.

Mind you my new house and huge plot of land with lake might just be in England not France so I might get more rain so it wouldn't be a problem.

I just think I would probably worry less about how much water and electricity I was using - though I still wouldn't waste it for the sake of it. And I'd be able to buy all organic meat and food products from the shops.

(Sorry if I've gone off topic).